Devil’s Food Cookies

January 16, 2009

I was thinking how nice it was that the last Tuesdays With Dorie recipe was a savory one because of all the sweets I ate over the holidays. And then I baked some cookies.

I first made these years ago…I have a note on the recipe from 2003 that says “Excellent!” I remember that I brought them to work and they were a hit and then for some reason the recipe went by the wayside. Until now. This recipe is from Chocolate from the Cake Mix Doctor. Yes, these are cookies made from a cake mix. The name of the recipe is Devil’s Food Hearts, because you’re supposed to roll out the dough and cut them into shapes and then decorate them. I did a quick version where I rolled the dough into a log and then sliced it and topped with some of that big, sparkly sugar. They aren’t super-beautiful this way (see picture!), but they taste just as good! These are crisp and not cakey, despite the cake mix.

Note that the dough needs to chill for several hours before you bake it…so plan accordingly. The dough also freezes well. I froze one log and sliced and baked it later – no defrosting needed.

Place the cake mix, butter, egg, and vanilla in a large mixing bowl. Blend with an electric mixer on low speed for about 1 minute (next time I’d put the butter in the mixer first to soften it up a little before adding the other ingredients). The dough will be thick and will come together into a ball. Shape the dough into four disks if you’re going to roll it out, or shape it into two logs if you’re going to slice it. Wrap in plastic and place it in the refrigerator for at least 3 hours and preferably overnight.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Take one disk or one log out of the refrigerator.For slice and bake: cut into 1/4 inch slices.For cutouts: roll the dough on a floured surface to 1/4 inch and cut into shapes.
Place on an ungreased cookie sheet; these puff and spread a little bit, so give them some space on the cookie sheet. Sprinkle with sugar if desired.

Bake until the cookies puff up and then sink back, 8-12 minutes, rotating the cookie sheets halfway through baking. Remove the sheets and let the cookies rest for 1 minute, then transfer to a cooling rack. Decorate cooled cookies with icing if desired.